Abstract : HYPO-COBOL is a proper subset of the full American National Standard Programming Language COBOL as defined in ANSI X3.23-1974. It is oriented toward a compiling system which need not place heavy demands on its environment in terms of time and space and provides functional capability above and beyond the minimum definition of COBOL. Most of the elements selected for inclusion in HYPO-COBOL are required in any implementation of a low-level COBOL compiler as defined in FIPS PUB 21-1. However, HYPO-COBOL is not a proper subset of low-level COBOL in that (1) it does not contain all elements of low level COBOL, and (2) does contain selected elements from higher levels of COBOL. (The HCCVS Language Specification; Test Specification and Implementation Document are available from NTIS and are required for proper implementation of the HYPO-COBOL validation system).